Helping Our Community - Outreach Project

The Kibagare community outreach project, whose aim is to transform livelihoods through empowerment to help increase the ability to sustain themselves and be resilient.Focus is on the women and guardians of the children who school at St Martins.We have had a good year despite the harsh environment due to the pandemic. It has been a challenge for the community here due to loss of employment and hard living conditions for most of the beneficiaries of our program.

During this time of the pandemic, most of our members having lost their incomes, started small businesses with funds loaned from the groups. The businesses did not fair very well as the markets had the same products and with the same set of customers.

The living standards for the community here have been harsh, making it hard to afford the most basic of needs, with housing being a major challenge due to lack of rent and also the inability to guarantee meals even with the provision of food baskets from well wishers and the school.

With the help of Angela - the community Coordinator, there has been an increase in the Number of groups from 9 in the previous year to 13 as of December 2020. The community here understand the importance of engaging in community activities/initiatives and this creates a sense of ownership.

The 13 groups have 176 members. This year, they have been able to increase their savings in their revolving funds by 58% , a testament that they have the will to do the much they can to change their fortunes and that of their families.

Members did not have a chance to hold their regular meetings due to the pandemic and this has been a challenge and has led to some members and their groups to be inactive.Through technology, in this regard MPESA, the groups were still able to continue with their group savings/contributions. This has also helped them take small loans from their groups to do small businesses and this far they have two success stories of women who have changed their lives thanks to their involvement in the savings and loanings group.

Of the 13 groups, 5 groups have been registered as self help groups, this is an added advantage to the members and the groups as they have an opportunity to access funding from financial institutions, in return creating an avenue to boost their savings, an opportunity to grow and build on their small businesses. 95% of our Outreach Community are women.